Nisha Mehta

PhD student

Melbourne Centre for Theoretical and Computational Chemistry

School of Chemistry

The University of Melbourne, VIC 3010

Australia

Room: 172 (Masson Building)

E-mail: nisham AT student.unimelb.edu.au

Biography

09/2017 – present: PhD student, School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Australia

05/2017 – 07/2017: Summer Researcher in the group of S. Yashonath, Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, Karnataka, India

07/2015 – 05/2017: Masters of Science (Chemistry), Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

12/2016: Researcher in The Associated Cement Companies (ACC) Limited, ACC Thane Complex, Thane (West), Mumbai, India

05/2016 – 07/2016: Summer Researcher in the group of Dr. D.L.V.K. Prasad under Summer Undergraduate Research and Postgraduate Excellence program (SURGE-2016), Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

07/2012 – 05/2015: Bachelor of Science (Honours) Chemistry, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

Awards and Achievements

2019: 2019 Finalist Three-Minute Thesis Competition, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne

2019: 2019 T.W. Healy Award to attend DFT2019 in Alicante, Spain (School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne)

2019: Best poster in Physical Chemistry at the 5th RSC Twitter Poster Conference, Royal Society of Chemistry

2019: Australian audience favourite at the 5th RSC Twitter Poster Conference, Royal Australian Chemical Institute

2017: Melbourne International Engagement Award, The University of Melbourne, Australia

2017: Melbourne Research Scholarship, The University of Melbourne, Australia

2017: Sangeeta Pradhan Memorial Medal, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

2017: JUNIOR RESERCH FELLOWSHIP (JRF), University Grants Commission (UGC), India

2017: B P Srivastava Scholarship, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

2017: Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) Chemistry qualified

2016: recipient of UTokyo-IIT PhD Scholarship (declined)

2016: acceptance letter from The University of Oxford and University College London (UCL)

2016: Dr. Elizabeth and Dr. Verkey Cherian Award for SURGE -2016 Best Project, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

2016: Scholarship for Top Class Education, Government of India, Ministry of Social Justice and Employment, India

2016: ACC Fellowship, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

2015: Among the 12 selected students for MS-PhD integrated programme IISER, Bhopal among 381 students shortlisted for interviews (declined)

2013-2015: Vice Chancellor’s student Funds, St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi

2013-2014: Sir Shobha Sinha Charitable Trust Scholarship, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi

2013: Nominated for The International Educational Excellence Program to U.K, University of Delhi (declined)

2013: CBM/MAGA SCHULZE MERIT Scholarship for academic excellence, All India Confederation Of The Blind

2013: Consolation Prize in intra-college paper presentation competition, St. Stephen’s College,  University of Delhi

Professional Memberships and Academic Service

2019 – present: PhD representative on the School of Chemistry Diversity & Equity Committee

2018 – present: Student member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (MRACI)

2017 – 2018: Non-executive member of IIT-IISc Graduates Group Committee, The University of Melbourne, Australia

2016 – 2017: Student representative of Department Undergraduate Committee (DUGC), Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India

02.2014: Student representative for St. Stephen’s College at a Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) meeting at the University of Delhi, India.

Publications

2. L. Goerigk, N. Mehta, “A trip to the Density Functional Theory zoo: warnings and recommendations for the user”, Australian Journal of Chemistry, 2019, published online. DOI: 10.1071/CH19023 (free access, awards special issue)

1. N. Mehta, M. Casanova-Páez, L. Goerigk, “Semi-empirical or non-empirical double-hybrid density functionals: which are more robust?”, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 2018, 20, 23175-23194. DOI: 10.1039/C8CP03852J (front-cover article, 2018 Hot Article)

Presentations

5. 04/2019 – Poster:  “Semi-empirical or non-empirical double hybrid density functionals: which are more robust?”, ChemComm Symposium 2019 Chemistry for Global Challenges, Melbourne, Australia

4. 03/2019 – Invited talk: “Exploring the applicability of double-hybrid density functional approximations”, Prof. Irene Yarosvky’s group seminar, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.

3. 03/2019 – Poster: “Semi-empirical or non-empirical double hybrid density functionals: which are more robust?”, 5th RSC Twitter Poster Conference

2. 02/2019 – Poster: “Semi-empirical or non-empirical double hybrid density functionals: which are more robust?”, RACI PhysChem 2019, Perth, Australia.

1. 11/2016 – Poster: “Electronic Structure and Hydration Dynamics of Portlandite”,Indo-Japan Discussion Meeting on Frontiers in Molecular Spectroscopy: From Fundamentals to Applications on Material Science and Biology, IIT Kanpur, India.